One Cascadian game fish that eludes me is the tiger musky. I have held an interest in these freshwater relatives of the barracuda, since I heard my cousin John Slater talk of them back in 1967. Until recently I believed my opportunities to target muskellunge were restricted to my trips back east. That all changed when my colleague Shane Hoelzle drew my attention to the Washington State tiger musky.

In researching these game fish I found that; Washington State Fish & Game makes use of this predator's veracious appetite to cull less popular species that are harming the environmental balance of a water system. The first stocking of sterile tiger musky was done in 1988, which makes them a rather new member of our west coast game fish species. Though they are new to our area they are no less the trophy game fish that their eastern relatives are; with the Washington State recoded set at fifty pounds. Picture that: a fish fifty inches in long, with a twenty five inch girth, weighing in at a whopping fifty pounds. Now, think about landing one with your fly rod. That's a fish for the bucket list!